The Maine Secretary of State has determined that the Libertarian Party presidential petition for Gary Johnson has enough valid signature. See this story. This will be the first time a Libertarian presidential candidate has been on in Maine since 2004. In 2008, the Libertarian presidential petition did not have enough valid signatures in Maine.

If Johnson polls at least 5%, the Libertarian Party would then become ballot-qualified in Maine for the next two years. The Libertarian Party has never been a qualified party in Maine, except in the years 1991-1992. If the Libertarian Party gains party status as a result of Johnson’s vote, then it could only keep that status after 2014 if its registration rises considerably. In 2014 it would need to have at least 10,000 registered voters who turned out and cast a vote in November 2014 (it doesn’t matter how they vote, only that they do vote). The deadline has not passed yet, but it is unlikely any other presidential petitions will be turned in. The Green Party is already ballot-qualified. Thanks to Alex Hammer for the link.

Here is the web page for the Arizona group that is attempting to qualify an initiative on the November 2012, to pass a top-two open primary law. The map misleads viewers into thinking that Nebraska has a top-two open primary. Actually, Nebraska has semi-closed primaries for President, Congress, all state executive offices, and all partisan county offices.

The adherents of the Arizona initiative, if asked about this, would probably say, “Yes, but Nebraska has non-partisan legislative elections”, and that would be true. However, non-partisan elections are not the same as top-two open primary systems. Although vocabulary in this area of election law is frequently confusing, all writers about primary systems define “top-two Primary” to be a system in which party labels appear on ballots, yet parties don’t nominate candidates.

Party labels on the ballot are the single most important determinant of how voters vote. Political science research has confirmed this for over half a century. A system without party labels, such as the Nebraska legislative election system, is therefore very different from any system in which party labels appear on the ballot. Nebraska has had non-partisan elections for the legislature since 1934. Nevertheless, political science research has shown that even the Nebraska legislature, in recent years, has behaved in a very partisan manner. Thanks to Mark Rogalski and Christina Tobin for the link.

Vermont is tied for having the earliest petition deadline for independent presidential candidates. Also, Vermont has very cumbersome petition-checking procedures for independent presidential candidates. They must take the petitions to each town, wait for the town clerks to check the signatures, and then collect the signatures and physically take them to the Secretary of State. Rocky Anderson and the Justice Party failed to qualify, and sued. On August 6, a Superior Court Judge in Washington County ruled that the Justice Party has two more weeks to complete the process. Here is the opinion, which says the procedures the Secretary of State has been using violate the U.S. Constitution. The judge also said that the state must accepted petitions that were collected on photocopies of blank petition forms. The state had been insisting that only forms issued by the state (and not copies made by the group) were valid.

The case is Anderson v State of Vermont, 480-6-12. It seems somewhat likely that the Constitution Party and the Green Party may also benefit from this ruling.